True Love Starts with a Smile
by WizardingMockingjayWithABox
Summary: The war with Gaea and her giants is over. Percy and Annabeth have grown closer than ever before. Piper and Jason have both gone to live in New Rome, with Hazel and Frank finishing their service for the Twelfth Legion. Leo finds himself completely alone, until a new girl comes to camp. She's an OC. Wait! Don't keep scrolling! She won't be Mary-Sue. I swear on the Styx. More inside..
1. Karpoi in Kansas

**Extended summary, added as of August 11th: I also have a semi-original plot in mind, if that interests you. **

**I say "semi-original", but what I really mean is AMAZINGLY AWESOME! I'm really excited for it. I got bombarded with ideas for this fic all in a period of two weeks, and that's why it suddenly has a _good_ plot.**

* * *

The Wizard of Oz t-shirt was the last insult.

Of all things that the karpoi could gag me with, it had to be a Wizard of Oz t-shirt? I had been running around the Wichita Airport, being chased by the little wheat brats, while they were screaming: "Sorghum! Barley! Buckwheat! Corn!" and all the other types of grain that nobody cares about. Why they were in the Wichita airport? I don't know. It still puzzles me today.

So, they were chasing me all throughout baggage, jumping over the luggage carousels, climbing over people's trolleys, and generally wreaking havoc. _How is everyone else _not_ seeing this?_ I asked myself. I was almost out the door when one of the little buggers grabbed onto my ankle. I tripped and fell directly on top of a trash can. (Eeeew!)

The karpoi dragged me out of the airport parking lot and across the highway into a field of grain. They weren't very gentle about it. On the way, I accumulated lots of scrapes, bruises, and I got bonked on the head about twenty times. Somewhere around the 23rd time, I was knocked out.

* * *

I woke up laying under wheat that was about armpit length. I could already feel the claustrophobia seeping through my chest, compressing my diaphragm, lodging in my throat. I needed to get out. Now. I stood up quickly, probably too quickly, but I felt like I was going to scream.

The wind ruffled the field, making the grain rustle ominously. Then, the grain materialized into my oh-so-familiar kidnappers.

"What do you want?" I asked furiously.

"Silence, pesky human!" A karpoi in black shorts squealed.

"I'm pesky? _I'm_ pesky? You have got to be _freaking _kidding me!" I yelled.

"Gag her." The stupid karpoi said. One of the little frickers took a Wizard of Oz t-shirt and gagged me with it. _That_ my friends, was the final insult, as mentioned earlier. Let's just say, if you ever meet someone from Kansas, don't talk to them about The Wizard of Oz, if you value your life.

"We will kill you slowly! Demigods make wonderful fertilizer!" The karpoi was obviously off his rocker. Nevertheless, I didn't want to be killed.

I tried to rip of my gag and use a few choice words on this baby grain thing, but he simply said: "Get her arms, you fools!" and some of his baby grain buddies held my wrists behind my back. Well, I was in quite a predicament. Then I remembered the matches in my pocket. _Mwa ha ha ha. _I thought. I just had to get to them.

The karpoi seemed to think that when my eyes lit up, that I actually feared him and his baby grain buddies. I snorted inwardly.

"Yes! We will kill you painfully! We will make you eat Whole Grain over there!" He pointed to a karpoi in brown shorts. The karpoi didn't look happy about it. "Whole grain is deadly! It has been killing children since eternity!" He laughed evilly. I didn't see how whole grain was going to kill me, but I didn't object.

"Yes! Sit her over here! Take off her gag! She cannot eat with a gag on!" He grinned. This karpoi was creeping me out. But as his grain buddies undid my gag, I started objecting almost immediately. "I can't eat without a fork! That would be _so _uncivilized." I said.

"Stupid modern people! In ancient times, we did not use such utensils. We were far stronger!" I gave him the puppy dog face. "Bah! Fine. Sorghum, go get this weak modern girl her 'fork.'" Minutes later, Sorghum returned with a plastic fork.

"Thanks!" I said, falsely cheerily. "But I can't hold the fork with my hands behind my back." The grain-babies behind my back let go of my arms. "Thank you." I said, pulling out my box of matches. The leader of the karpoi looked alarmed, but I had already struck a match. "Don't come any closer!" I said, grabbing a stick from the ground and setting it on fire. Some of the karpoi tried to attack me, but with my newly made torch, I burnt all the karpoi who tried to touch me. I backed out of the field, and when my torch was only about six inches tall, I was out of the field. I took the remainder of my torch, and threw it into the field as far as I could. I'm not sure if that was the best idea, but I needed to be sure that the karpoi wouldn't follow me. Besides, the fire department would probably have control over the fire before it got to anywhere inhabited by people. Hopefully.

**~So, that would be the first chapter in my little romance thing. I know it doesn't have any Leo in it yet, but all in good time, my young grasshoppers. My character may seem a bit Mary-Sue at the current moment, but I promise it will get better. So, anyways, tell me what you think! I would be like, so eternally happy if you reviewed, favorited, or followed, (possibly all three) so pretty peas do that. (Yeah, I meant to say "peas")~**

**~Ok, so I just got a hater saying mean things about Kansas and Wizard of Oz. Since they didn't log in/don't have an account I can't PM them, but if they're reading this (which they probably aren't, but just in case) then the reason why I said that "the Wizard of Oz t-shirt was the last insult" is because IM FROM KANSAS TOO, STUPID. If you aren't this person then you can ignore this last author note. Love from WizardingMockingjayWithABox. :D~**


	2. Troubles at Camp Half-Blood

**~This is in Leo's point of view, by the way.~**

I don't like mornings.

But every day at 7:30, I have to go to breakfast, and then to cabin inspection at 8:00, unless I wanted stable duty (Which I didn't.) So I dragged myself out of bed and looked around at cabin nine, stretching. All the rest of the kids in cabin nine were rushing around, getting ready for cabin inspection. I looked at my bed. It needed to be made, and had random soda cans and chip bags lying in random places, so I picked them up and went to the bathroom to change into a pair of jeans.

I knew that I was supposed to be the one that took charge during cabin cleaning, but I honestly was not a morning person, and the rest of cabin nine knew that, so they generally cleaned up and did their own thing. I walked over to one of the many worktables and wiped off the surface with an old rag. The rest of the cabin looked decent, good enough for cabin inspection anyway, and so I started for the mess hall.

* * *

As usual, I saw about two hundred kids eating breakfast with zombie-like looks on their faces. They were all eating at different tables according to cabin, because of some dumb rule that forced us to sit all separated, regardless of what cabin our friends were in. I saw Percy and Annabeth staring at each other from across the mess hall, probably mad about the table-separation rule too. They had become really close since the war with Gaea was over, and I was totally happy for them. Except I was starting to feel like the third wheel again. _But when has it ever been different?_ I thought. I sighed and trudged over to the Hephaestus table, where a wood nymph handed me a plate of pancakes. The syrup smelled amazing, so I dug in.

* * *

The day passed by so quickly that it was free time before I knew it. I decided to do something that I hadn't done since the days of Gaea. I set out for Bunker Nine.

My feet seemed to know the way by themselves, like they had a brain of their own. And this left me to think about things that I necessarily didn't want to think about. For the past month, I've been able to keep busy, not really thinking about anything important. I was always building or training. But today, I didn't have anything to keep myself busy. And so I started to think about things. I felt like my own thoughts were screaming abuse at me. _Nobody cares, Valdez. You're just a third wheel. You've become useless. An extra piece._

I was friendless. Alone. A tear slid down the bridge of my nose and onto the blueprint for the _Argo II_. Oh, look. I was in Bunker Nine already.

* * *

**~ Oh my God. I'm so sorry for the wait. I was like, _Okay WizardingMockingjayWithABox, you're going to update in a good amount of time this chapter. _Yeah, that didn't happen. :S And sorry it's so short too. I just didn't really have anything important happening for Leo, except that he was sad and stuff. OH! And the reason why he might seem out of character is because he was really depressed. Even _he_ wouldn't crack jokes when he was that sad. Yeah, so that's my excuse for not coming up with any good Leo-ish jokes. Now, if you could pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top review so that I know that people are actually _reading_ my fanfic and not just looking at it, reading the first paragraph, and deciding that they don't like it? :D And thanks to the people who did review. XD You guys are the bestest!~**


	3. Lean, Mean, Thomas and Friends Machine

I didn't even remember jumping onto the cargo train, I was so exhausted.

Right as the train was passing, I had seen it heading northeast, so I hopped on, thinking that it was my best shot at getting some sleep and going where my instincts led me.

And I didn't even know why my instincts led me to the northeast. Maybe because there were lots of big cities in the northeast? But there were lots of big cities in the west, too. There was just this gut feeling I had, you know? Like I was _meant_ to be there. I had a purpose, and to fulfill that purpose, I needed to be in a certain place. Something was guiding me there.

So I jumped into a cargo train. Yep, a real, live cargo train. Like, a lean, mean, Thomas and Friends machine. I had been walking along the train tracks and heard it coming behind me, so I backed into some trees lining the sides of the railroad,(stubbing my toe on a steel pipe in the process)so that the driver wouldn't see me. Then I waited for the train to come a little bit closer, and I had an idea. I picked up the steel pipe and threw it at the wheels.

As I had anticipated, the train slowed for about two seconds. But two seconds was enough.

I jumped headfirst into the train. But my legs still hung off of the side of the train's car, and for a frightening half of a second I felt myself being sucked out of the train.

But then something grabbed my arm. Something with claws.

* * *

**~ Sorry I took FOREVER (surprise, surprise) again. I wanted there to be a cliffhanger, though. :D Heheheheeeeeee... But this time, I really will update sooner. I swear.**

**Loki: Swear it on the river Styx.**

**Me: Where did you come from?!**

**Loki: It does not matter. Swear it!**

**Me: This is a PERCY JACKSON FANFIC! WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE!?**

**Loki: SWEAR IT!**

**Me: Okay, ok... I swear on the river Styx. Jeez.**

**Hem, hem. I have no idea what he was doing there. I apologize. **

**And thanks to ALL of my amazingly awesome reviewers, favoriters, and followers. :D **

**Just saying, you won't be amazingly awesome until you review. Just saying. That's what it takes to be amazingly awesome.~**


	4. I Gots an Owie

**~I have upped the rating for violence and very ouchful injuries. So it's rated T now. Just a heads-up. :D~**

I cried out in pain as the clawed hand pulled me up into the train car. My eyes watered, and I screamed out loud. I was _sure_ that those three-inch claws had ripped through several layers of my wrist tissue. My arm felt like white-hot fish hooks were pulling my flesh apart at the wrist. Ow. I sat on a sack of potatoes near the door of the train car, and then I felt another pain, but in my calf this time. I saw a black thorn the size of a ruler protruding out of my leg, dripping acid. I gasped, pulling the thorn out slowly. That was a mistake.

I should have pulled it out quickly and just stabbed the manticore with its own weapon. But I didn't. So the manticore had time to pounce on me, crushing my stomach with its weight. It pulled its head back, hissing. This was my chance.

I took my good hand, and, using the manticore's momentum, pushed it sideways out of the moving train. It curved around the edge, and a telltale bump told me that the train had run the manticore over.

* * *

I pulled off my backpack, careful not to let the strap touch my wrist. My backpack held a first-aid kit, some matches, a blanket, a change of clothes, three granola bars, a flashlight, extra batteries, and a paperback copy of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. Tools of survival, right there. I picked up the flashlight, placing it between my teeth, and then I took out the first aid kit, and opened it one-handed. Then I selected the witch hazel dropper and gingerly cleaned my wounds. Witch hazel is the kind of astringent that doesn't sting, or so I'd thought. When I'd moved to clean my leg wound, which I was delaying, I dropped a drop of witch hazel onto my leg wound, and gasped, my eyes watering in pain. I did this six more times, and then decided that that would have to be enough. After that, I took out the linen bandages from my first-aid kit and wrapped my wrist tightly, using my good hand and mouth to tie a knot. I did the same with my calf, and then wrapped it all up with an ace bandage at the end.

I sighed, wondering a thousand things. Why northeast? When was I going to get there? What was I going to do _when_ I got there? How long would it take for my leg and arm to heal? What if I ran out of food? What if the train's conductor caught me? What if I needed to go to the hospital? What if I got caught? What if-_stop._ I chided myself. I wouldn't go to sleep if I worried like this.

So I picked up _Harry Potter_ and I read until I fell asleep, not trusting myself to think about what might happen. Not trusting myself to think about all of the _ifs._

**~So I actually got back to you in a good amount of time for once! Oh my gosh, this chapter took a _long_ time to write! Even though it's not exactly Moby Dick, I had some saving issues. Excuse me while I vent my feelings to you all. **

**So, I had the first paragraph all written out nicely, with imagery and everything, and then I went to Facebook and forgot to save it. Which sucked, but it was my fault, so I wasn't too mad. But then, I stayed up semi-late (10:00) and my wifi decided to throw a temper tantrum and turn off, so I didn't realize it before I could copy and paste my finished story into word. So I lost all of that. And now I've written it all out, and I am absolutely _determined_ to post this chapter. So yeah.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review! Like, now! Not kidding! Review! Or favorite! Or follow! Please! You need to review to be amazingly awesome! That's what it takes! As I have said before! Why am I adding exclamation points after everything?! I don't know! Maybe I'm crazy! We just don't know!Maybe if you review, I won't be crazy with sadness anymore! So, the box is right there! \/ See the arrow?! Here's another one! \/ Bye!~**


	5. Angst Time, Come On Grab Your Friends

Leo was working in the forges, like any other Hephaestus kid. He was crafting a hammer. Like mjolnir, from the movie _Thor_. Evidently nobody at Camp Half-Blood thought that making the actual _tools_ for crafting were important.

He didn't really think about what he was doing, he just let his fingers do their thing. Not in a dirty way, of course. But, again, this left him free to think. Think, and get depressed all over again. His friends, they didn't care. They honestly didn't. Even if they thought they did, if they actually cared, they would talk to him more than zero times a day. You'd think that going through countless life-and-death situations with some people would urge them to actually try to hang out with him, but that wasn't the case, apparently. Obviously, hooking up with your boyfriend and moving away was the best way to show your friend that you cared. Clearly, walking up and down the beach while clinging to your girlfriend was exactly how most people hung out with each other. Undoubtedly, relocating to across the country and never speaking to your friend again was like, completely normal and would never even hurt your friend's feelings. Like, ever.

_BAM!_

Oops, Leo hadn't meant to hit the side of Mjolnir, as the hammer had been dubbed, that hard.

Leo shouldn't have felt sorry for himself. It was pitiful. He was supposed to be this amazing son of Hephaestus, who helped defeat Gaia and her Giants. He was supposed to be the funny and talented counselor of the Hephaestus cabin. It was pitiful. He shouldn't be thinking like this. But he just did.

_That's it._ He thought.

Leo threw Mjolnir into the fire. He stormed out of the forges and took off running into the woods. He'd run. And he'd run. And he wouldn't look back.

* * *

The next day was very peaceful. Well, as peaceful as trying not to scream whenever a moving train hit a bump. But, I shouldn't have been complaining. A day without monsters is a good day.

All I did was sit and read my book. It was almost boring. If not for good ole J.K. killing off every single character. But, I supposed, killing off a character was necessary. It showed that life was finite, and that death shouldn't be something to be afraid of. It showed that you never know what's good until it's gone, or however the saying went. Killing a character was like saying, "look, life is short, so make the most of it." Again, for the millionth time, like almost every other person in the world, I thought about what would happen after death. But I won't bore or offend you with my religious ponderings.

I had been about to start the chapter "The Battle at Hogwarts" when the train began to slow and come to a stop. I packed up my things as fast as possible and got _out_ of there, quickly.

**~Okay, so, I hope you didn't expect me to actually update in less than a month, right? Because that would've sucked.**

**I'm sorry, that was mean. **

**Anyways, leave a review? *Looks hopefully at you* It would make me smile. A lot. For the rest of the day. And God knows I need to smile more… :/ I really don't like moving, let's just say that. But have a wonderful day!~**


	6. This Hydra's on fiiiireeee!

I dropped out of the train car, ignoring the pang in my leg. _Pain is just a message. _I reminded myself. I tried to hide in the shadows of a narrow alley beside the train station, hoping to blend in. Trudging down the steps, I walked toward a tourist booth, about to ask for directions to the nearest hospital.

* * *

Leo ran through the forest, ignoring the weird looks that he got from dryads staring at him. He didn't know where he was going. But he used the stream to guide him. Mud squished at his black converse, his lungs burned, his throat ached, but he enjoyed it. It felt good. It felt like all of his troubles were being absorbed by the pain. And he felt lighter with each step, lighter than air as he got away from it all.

* * *

"Hello, I was wondering where the nearest ER is."

The lady behind the booth pursed her lips. "Alright, you gonna go down Madison, then when you get to 76th, keep goin' till you pass Park. On that block is the Lenox Hill Hospital."

"Okay, thank you."_ That was much less complicated than I thought it would be,_ I thought._ Now, to get my nasty leg to the hospital without like, dying from pain, that wouldn't be as easy._

* * *

**~A/N: (I know I'm not supposed to do this but oh well, it's my story. I can "interrupt the flow" if I want.) Here's the thing. Manhattan and Montauk, where Camp Half Blood is placed, are not close in the slightest. Just pretend that they're like, within five miles of each other. Use your *waves arms in rainbow arc shape* imagination.~**

* * *

Leo was all sweaty when he reached the city. Who cared though? Lots of people ran in the city, he could pretend he was going on a nighttime jog instead of running away. Yet again.

* * *

My leg felt like it was on fire, except it kind of.. burned with cold instead of heat. It was probably the poison. I was bumped in the shoulder of my good arm by a sweaty jogger, a teenage boy. It jostled my other wrist, but I tried to shake it off, through the freaking _galaxy_ that starbursted in front of my eyes. I was just regaining my footing (apparently I had stumbled, hurting my leg as well) when I heard a snarl coming from a side alley. I was just too curious to keep walking and focus on getting to the hospital. It didn't help that I'm ADHD. And what I saw made my breath catch in my throat.

* * *

Leo accidentally bumped into a few people during his "nighttime jog." A business man in a suit, a teenage girl in ragged clothes, and a creepy homeless guy. _Although, the teenage girl in ragged clothes could've been homeless too._ Leo thought. He was just about to catch his breath on the corner of an alley, when he heard a bunch of hisses, like the dumpster next to him was filled with snakes. He looked up and saw six pairs of glowing red eyes.

* * *

The guy who bumped into me, he was at the opening of the alley too. He yelped, and I looked up and saw it. Just like the monster that freaked the heck out of me as a kid watching the Disney movie _Hercules_. Staring into six pairs of glowing red eyes, I knew, or I thought I knew, that I was fresh meat. Then the jogger took out a knife. A one-and-a-half-foot-long bronze blade that would make any butcher's knife feel insecure. _The heck?_ I thought. (I thought something a little more colorful, actually.)

He sliced off one of the Hydra's heads with one hand and set his other hand on fire(...?), and then threw a ball of fire at the Hydra's stump of a neck. He then proceeded to do the same with the other heads. He moved to the alley's wall and leaned against it, eventually sinking to the ground.

* * *

_That took a lot out of me._ Leo thought. He felt drained, after running five miles and then killing a six-headed Hydra. Having to use his powers didn't help him at all. And then there was the mortal girl coming toward him. He'd have to do something about that.

"What just happened? What was that? How'd you do that fire thing? And where'd you get that sword thing from? Who are you?"

Leo didn't answer right away. He was, surprise surprise, out of breath.

"You could _see _it?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"D'you know what a Hydra is?"

"I'm assuming it was that thing. But why didn't you just stab it? I wonder... would a head have grown out of the stab wound?"

"Probably. You have to burn the wounds or... wait, how do you know what a Hydra does?"

She waved Leo's question aside. "Please. I've seen the movie _Hercules_." She sat down. "But where'd it come from? The fireball? You don't have a flamethrower."

"I'm..." _Aw, to Hades with it. _Leo thought. "I'm a half-blood. My dad's a Greek god. Hephaestus. The Greek myths are actually real. Now, let me guess, I'm crazy."

She half-smiled. "So I'm _not_ insane! Look," she showed Leo her wrist, and he saw a bandage with a red splotch on it. Then she showed him her calf. There was an ace bandage. "I got mauled by a manticore."

Leo winced just looking at the wound. "Doesn't it _hurt_?!"

"Well _duh_."

Leo wanted to kick himself for not bringing any nectar or ambrosia. "I can take you to a place where we can get those fixed up. The mortals, they won't be able to help you with that." He stood up and offered to help her up.

"I need to know your name before I go with you."

"Leo."

She took my hand.

"Allie."

* * *

**~I feel like we have this relationship where I write a chapter, and then you say to update soon, and then I say that I will, and neither of us expect it to actually happen. **

**It took me awhile to realize that she didn't have a name. But now she does!**

**Anyways, let me know what you think. I won't get mad if you say that you don't like it. I know that I've called someone out before, but that's because they were just being flat out rude and didn't read the whole thing. Constructive criticism helps! And thanks to my reviewers/favoriters/followers! I'm sorry it took me months to write this.~**


	7. The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Oh, my Gods'

I slung my arm over Leo's shoulder- he was only a few inches taller than me, so it wasn't hard. He helped me limp to a nearby bus stop. A businessman was nice enough to offer his seat on the bench to me, and I took it. It was about five minutes until the bus came, but the fact that I had nothing to distract me from my wounds almost made them hurt _more_.

I finally saw what Leo was wearing though. There was an orange t-shirt that said Camp Half Blood, and a tool belt, like a mechanic would wear. I assumed that that's where he got the knife-swordy thing. Under that, he had on jeans and a pair of sneakers.

Once the bus pulled in, Leo and I took our seats at the back. If there were any other open seats we would have taken them; I knew from experience that the back was where you felt the bumps in the road most.

I couldn't stand just sitting there, thinking about how much every bump in the road made my wrist and leg hurt.

"So where was this place that you're taking me?"

"Uhm, we shouldn't talk about it here."

I gritted my teeth as we hit a particularly large bump in the road. "Okay, fine." I said a little snappier than I meant. "What's your favorite color?"

"My favorite color?"

"_Yes._" I could feel his eyes on me, like _jeez, what's _her _problem? _"Sorry. I'm kind of in a lot of pain here and I'm trying to distract myself from it."

"Okay, fair enough. I guess... red."

"Why red?" I asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't know. I've always liked red. What about yours?"

"Blue. Peacock blue."

"Not just blue, huh? _Peacock _blue_._"

I grinned. "Well, blue could mean anything, and I don't want people to think that I like _cerulean_ blue, or _azul_ blue, or_ navy_ blue."

Leo gave a short laugh. "So, uh, what do you like to do?"

"It's kind of embarrassing. It makes me sound like a total nerd."

"What is it?" Leo gently nudged me in the shoulder.

"Computer programming."

He looked at me like W_haaaaat? That's a thing? _"You program computers?"

"Well, not really. I use a Java Platform to make pictures, and videos, and video _games_, once I even made a social network, but the website shut me down because people were being cyberbullied and crap."

"Whoa." Leo said.

"I know, right? Like, this isn't even _real_ Facebook and you're still going to be an asshole? And there wasn't any way I could ban them, so the website shut down this _huge _project that I'd worked on for weeks. All because of a couple of insolent little jerks."

"No, I mean about the programming thing."

"Oh. Well, it's not _that _hard. You just have to be good at math, and you have to learn the programming 'language' or whatever." I started to feel uncomfortable, like I was acting full of myself. "What about you? What do _you _like to do?"

"I like building stuff."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Uhh... just stuff. All kinds."

"Thank you, captain obvious."

He grinned. "I shouldn't talk about it here."

"Oh, my God, is there anything you _can _talk about?"

"Well." Leo exhaled. "See the driver?"

"Yeah." I hadn't noticed through our conversation, but the bus driver, a sixty-something old woman, was staring at us through her mirror. I saw her eyes, and they were glowing green.

"I think she's-" I interrupted him. "-yeah, I think so too. We need to get off. Now." I pulled the little yellow cord to signal that we needed to stop. Unfortunately, the bus driver didn't want to let us out, and she kept driving. I pulled on the cord some more. She ignored it. I couldn't fathom how she was driving, as she was staring at us.

"Screw it." Leo muttered, and he pulled a three-pound hammer from his tool belt. _Where'd _that _come from?_ I thought. But then again, he'd pulled two foot-and-a-half-long knifes out of his tool belt too. He smashed the back window open, much to the alarm of the other passengers. He jumped out of it, and with the bus going at forty-five miles per hour, I had no choice but to follow.

The window was big enough, so I jumped through feet first, facing the back of the bus. Except, by the time my feet hit the ground, I was still holding onto the bus. So naturally, my knees hit the ground, followed by my hands. My little manticore-injury made that hurt a little bit though, (_that's _an understatement) so my arms gave way and I face-planted. My nose didn't like that. Blood was gushing out of it, and I was revolted to taste some in my mouth. I spit it out, coughing.

I stood. Leo had run up to me, and we both saw that the bus had stopped up ahead, meaning that the monster-lady-thing was going to come after us. We had maybe forty-five seconds, and she would be here.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

"Do." I said, meaning _"_no", but my nose was all messed up, so it didn't sound like that. "Let's go! She's godda cub after us! Which way to da place?"

"That way!" He said, frustrated, and pointed in the bus's direction.

I looked around. On either side of the beaten-down road were thick forests._ Or should I say camouflage, _I thought. "Cub od!" I grabbed Leo's arm.

We ran into the trees, hoping that the bus driver wouldn't be able to see us. "But she'll be able to smell us!" Leo said. "Den let's rud faster!"

I didn't know if it was adrenaline or what, but somehow I was able to run, swinging my arms, pounding my feet, and not even notice. Well, that's a lie, I _did_ notice, but it wasn't really my top priority.

We ran at full speed, until we ran out of breath. Trying to catch my breath through a bloody nose wasn't fun. "Okay, which way is id?" I asked. Leo pointed at a hill about a hundred yards across the street. _Just a little bit of running and we'll be home free! _I thought.

I ran across the street, not even checking for cars. I was at the base of the hill, when I turned around, wondering why Leo wasn't right behind me.

Until I saw the glowing green eyes, next to his face. And the bloodless arms, suffocating him with a deathly grip.

**~}:D Mwahahahahahaaaaaa! Cliffhangers, yet again! It just couldn't be that easy, could it? Anyways, leave a review, I'd like to know what you think. Comments, questions, anything. Does she seem Mary-Sue at all? Is there anything that you'd like to see in this story? And thanks to everyone who's reviewed already! You guys are awesome. :D~**


	8. Banshees?

**~Warning: This chapter has some explicit catfighting. If you don't like reading about a little bit of blood, then I'd skip to paragraph four. You've been warned.~**

**~Also, I'd like to apologize for my awful grammar in the last chapter. It won't be terrible anymore, I swear.~**

For about half a second, I stared at the woman-no, the _monster_- holding Leo in a chokehold. She had long, straight, dark brown hair to her knees, sunken black eyes, and pale skin. In her long, white dress, she looked like a banshee. As I ran towards her, she cackled, revealing pointed teeth. Her talons were digging into Leo's neck.

_It's a good thing I'm not above catfighting. _I thought.

As I approached her, I reached for her crazy-long hair and yanked as hard as I could. She let out an ear-piercing wail. Then she elbowed me and I jumped behind her, hair still in my hands. She turned and clawed at my face with one hand. I pushed her head forward and she missed, but nicked me on the ear. I felt a little bit of blood in my ear, not much though. That gave me an idea. I touched my ear and just above my lip, and rubbed the blood on my fingers into her eyes. In retrospect, that was probably the most undignified and disgusting thing I'd ever done, but it did the trick, she couldn't see a thing.

I leapt forward, grabbed Leo's arm, and ran towards the hill. "Come on! Come ON!" I screamed. I realized I was crying. But, hey, a life-and-death experience could do that to you, right?

* * *

I woke up in a soft bed, staring at a girl with short black hair, about chin length. I sat up, groggy. "Where am I?" I yawned.

"The Infirmary." She said. I peered down at my shirt. It was orange, with "Camp Half-Blood" written in black across the front.

"Who changed my shirt?" _Oh, my God. I'm so perverted. _I thought. My face reddened. "Actually, I don't want to know. Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

"Down the hall, sec-third door on the right." She said.

I trudged through the hallway. Apparently I was in a house. I didn't pay much attention to the details though, as I was half-awake.

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. My reddish brown hair had been taken out of its ponytail, and now lay on my shoulders. It went down to about halfway between my shoulder and my elbow normally, but right then it was a rat's nest. I combed it out with my fingers.

I stared at my face. There were four pimples, one on my chin, two on my hairline, and one in the middle of my left cheek. I resisted the urge to pop them. My eyes were a shade of really light blue, almost gray. They were probably the one thing I liked about my face. I hated the freckles splashed across my nose and cheeks. I despised the way that my top lip was thinner than my bottom lip, making my smile look just plain stupid. I detested my short nose. It made me look like Lucy Lou Who from _The Grinch_. I sighed. And then I looked down at the flat board that was supposed to be my chest. I dropped my head, peering at the sink, practically _feeling_ my self-esteem going down.

I turned on the faucet and splashed my face with cold water. I dried off with a towel, and then went back to the infirmary.

"Hey, sorry, I was like half awake. I didn't really introduce myself. My name's Allie." I said to the girl from before.

"I'm Nora. Short for Elinor." I looked more closely at her. She had brown skin, black eyes, and an hourglass shaped body, I noted with a bit of jealousy. She wore a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt like mine, and knee-length shorts.

"You were pretty bloodied up when you got here." She said. I looked at my wrist and my calf. The wounds were gone. I felt my nose. I thought I'd broken, so it should've been crooked, but it was the same as always. My eyes widened. Nora laughed. "Why did you have chunks of like, really long hair in you hands when you got here?"

"Oh, I uh... had a catfight with a banshee." I smiled.

"A banshee?" She asked. "That's not Greek." _Huh._ I thought. "So it's _just_ Greek stuff here?" I asked.

"Yeah. My dad's Apollo. I'm surprised you didn't here before, though. How old are you?"

"Fifteen." I replied. "I'm going to be sixteen July 21st."

"Most kids arrive when they're twelve or thirteen. Actually, you're supposed to be claimed already."_  
_

"Claimed?"

"By your godly parent. My godly parent is Apollo. Is your mortal parent your dad or your mom?"

"My dad." She looked at me closely. "What?" I asked defensively.

"We'll probably find out later. I've got to take you to orientation."

* * *

Orientation was basically a video explaining that the Greek gods still existed and that my dad had hooked up with one of them. I was the result of that. Also, all of the Greek monsters were still alive. That didn't really explain the Karpoi or the Banshee, so I didn't know what to think of that. But as soon as I walked outside of the room where they showed the orientation video, Nora stared at me. Well, above my head, more like. I walked over to a mirror in the hallway. There was a glowing owl floating above my head.

"What the-"

"You're a daughter of Athena." She said.

**~Okay. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? Anything that you think that I should fix? ANYTHING. I want to know. Also, if she seems the slightest bit Mary-Sue, let me know. I really, really want to know. Leave a review. Please. And I would like to thank the people who already reviewed. :)~**


	9. Conversations

**~Okay, I know it looks like I reviewed my own story, however, I did not. I just sat my friend down to R&R during a sleepover and forgot to log out of my account.**

**Mandarine Orange: I really appreciate your constructive criticism, so thanks. About the daughter of Athena thing, I was actually planning to make Allie the daughter of someone else, but after I'd written a few chapters, I decided that she'd probably fit into the Athena cabin best. I get that it's pretty overdone so I'll make sure that she's different from all those other daughter of Athena OCs. And I'll make sure that she doesn't talk about how she looks _too_ much, I just wanted to describe her appearance and point out that she's got insecurities.**

**OH! And I haven't actually done a disclaimer... although I think that they really should just be implied... I don't own, nor do I make money off of, nor did I create, the Percy Jackson world, and I don't own, nor do I make money off of, nor did I create any of the things that I reference throughout this story. I reference a lot of stuff, so I thought that that was necessary. **

**And I realize that this is the most incredibly long A/N in the entire history of Fanfiction. But, I mean, it's not like you're reading it, anyways. XD**

**Anyways, let's do another segment in Leo's POV, shall we?~**

Leo should've considered himself lucky that he didn't get turned into a dolphin for running away. As a matter of fact, all he'd gotten was a week of stable duty. He would start the next day. In the meanwhile, he was in the lower levels of the Hephaestus cabin, making a replacement for Mjolnir, the hammer he'd thrown into the fire during his rage-fit-thing. He was carving the engravings, trying to remember exactly how the curves went.

Leo brought his hand up to his neck, where that _thing,_ whatever it was,tried to choke him.

He was so, so stupid. Why didn't he just light himself on fire?

_You couldn't _breathe, _Valdez. You definitely wouldn't have enough energy to go into flamethrower mode._

Why couldn't he have reached into his tool belt?

_What could you have gotten? You wouldn't have been able to reach back and stab it with the knives. You wouldn't have been able to turn and bonk it in the head or anything. And, again, you kind of need to _breathe _to kill it._

Leo sighed. He felt a little bit better about the experience. And then there was Allie, who fought tooth and nail to save him. He'd have to thank her about that later.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw Harley. "There's this _girl_ here to see you."

"Who is it?" Leo asked.

"I dunno."

Leo immersed Mjolnir II in water and set it on the worktable. "Okay."

* * *

Leo saw Allie in the doorway of Cabin 9, looking a little bit awkward. He walked to her.

"Hey."

"Oh, my God, are you okay?" She stared at Leo's neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Leo touched his neck again. "Nothing a little Nectar can't fix."

"Nectar?"

"This healing thing. It's food of the gods or something." He saw her confused expression. "I don't really get it either." He added.

Allie smiled. "They probably used a ton of that stuff on me."

"Well, if you drink too much then you burn up. So probably not that much." Allie laughed. _Dang, a girl is actually _laughing _at my jokes for once. _Leo thought.

Nyssa nudged Leo and Allie out of the doorway. "Sorry guys, I've got to get through." She walked towards the Forge.

"Let's, uh, talk somewhere else." Allie suggested.

"Yeah. Let's walk." Leo said.

* * *

After a few minutes of combing their way through the thick crowd of teenagers (it was the middle of the summer, so there were a lot), Leo and Allie were walking by the Canoe Lake.

"So did you find out who your godly parent is?"

"Yeah, it's Athena."

"So you're smart then." Leo said.

"I s'pose." Allie looked at the ground.

Leo cleared his throat. "So is there anything you wanted to know about Camp Half-Blood? It's sort of a lot to take in."

"Understatement of the year." She said.

He laughed. "Yeah."

"I'm not really sure _what_ to ask. It's just like, I'll believe anything now. If you told me that there were orange unicorns living in the center of the Earth then I'd believe it. It's really, really... enlightening. But also really really scary. Like, Pegasi are real, but does that mean that the evil ghosts are too?"

"Yeah. There's the Cacodaemons, the-"

"It wasn't an actual question."

"Oh." Leo grinned.

"So, Leo, tell me about yourself."

"Uhm... what do you want to know?" He wasn't sure where to start.

"What's your last name, how old are you, where are you from, I don't know, pick something."

"Valdez, sixteen, and Houston. What about you?"

"Reid, fifteen, almost sixteen, and Kechi."

"Key Chai?" _What kind of name is Key Chai? _Leo thought.

"Kechi, Kansas."

_Oh. _He thought. "That's cool. So how often do you guys have tornadoes?"

Allie scowled. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"About three thousand a year." Allie said sarcastically.

"No, really."

"Like, maybe five or ten a summer? I don't know. And I bet you didn't know that Texas has more tornadoes than Kansas does."

"Huh."

"Yup." Allie popped the "p."

Allie broke the silence. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

"I am positively famished." Leo said in a mock posh accent. "I think that dinner's going to start soon. We should probably go back to our cabins."

They walked back to their respective cabins.

* * *

**Back to Allie's POV**

Dinner was amazing. First off, I could drink anything I wanted, as long as it wasn't alcoholic. I decided on Mountain Dew. Secondly, the barbecue was amazing. There wasn't any of that nasty flabby white stuff on the brisket, and the barbecue sauce was. . . awesomesauce. I sat near the end of the bench, across from Annabeth, the counselor, and Malcolm, her second-in-command, apparently. Next to me was Andy, a blond-haired (almost everyone in the Athena cabin was blond) twelve year old from Wisconsin. Malcolm had told me that Andy'd come to camp half-blood a month ago. Apparently he was also one of the quiet types.

Annabeth had arrived for dinner at the exact same time that I had. When Malcolm showed me around the Athena cabin, after Nora gave me a tour of the camp, he'd said that Annabeth spends every moment she can with her boyfriend, Percy, and that was why she wasn't there. When I asked why, he said "They've been through hell and back together. Literally." That sounded scary, so I didn't press for details.

"Hi, I'm Annabeth." She said, holding out her hand for me to shake.

I shook it. "Hi, I'm Allie."

"I'm the counselor, so if you have any questions, you can ask me."

"Okay, for starters, how'd you guys get Pegasi? Did you genetically engineer them or something? Or are there like, Pegasi in some secret part of the local Petco?"

Annabeth laughed. "The original Pegasus, after springing out of Medusa's severed neck-"

"-Perseus killed her, by the way.-" Malcolm added.

"-made tons of baby Pegasi and some of them are in camp."

I thought about that for a minute.

"But, and don't take this the _wrong way_, who'd he have the baby Pegasi with if there wasn't another Pegasus?"

"That's a very good question." Annabeth said.

"Like, are Pegasi just able to have kids spontaneously, all by themselves? Or do they give birth, like regular horses? Or do they lay eggs, like birds?" I was seriously puzzled about this. "And even if there _was _some sort of magical Pegasus-baby-making-machine, wouldn't all of the Pegasi be siblings?" I said this all really fast. "And then if _they _had kids, wouldn't their children have mental disabilities? And do mental disabilities get passed on through each generation?" Oh, my God, I was on a roll. "So all the Pegasi are mentally disabled!" I slapped the table. "Unless..." I froze. "Can it skip generations?"

Malcolm chuckled. "Well, we know you're an Athena kid."

I grinned. "But, really, is this just going to stay a mystery to the universe?"

"Jeez, kid, it's a myth. You don't have to look that much into it." Said a kid from the table to my right.

"Nope. I'm becoming an Equestro-avianologist, and you can't stop me." I was half joking now. "Wait a second..." I paused. "So are we all siblings? And are these my cousins?" I gestured to all of the teenagers around us.

Malcolm answered me. "Yeah. Well... no. Well, the gods don't have DNA, so if, for example, someone from the Dionysus cabin dated someone from the Athena cabin, it wouldn't be incest or anything. But if somebody from the Dionysus cabin dated someone from the Dionysus cabin, _that_ would be incest."

"I wasn't really talking about dating or anything, but okay." I said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, Malcolm. Is there any particular _reason _that you picked the Dionysus cabin?" Annabeth said in a teasing tone.

"No." Malcolm scratched his chin.

"It's not because of _Angela_, is it?" Annabeth was grinning now.

"No. Shut up." He said, reaching for the back of his neck.

"Okaaay, whatever you say."

"No-it's-agh, nevermind."

Just then, the food cleared from the plates, and everyone began to walk towards the campfire.

**~1,428 words. And that doesn't count the A/Ns. Who da woman?! ... Or did that chapter seem just the same length as the others? And do you guys want more conversation or less conversation? Or the same amount? And was having her talk to Annabeth a bit out of line? Is there ANYTHING you want to see in the next few chapters? And am I taking it too slow with the LeoxAllie thing? I just don't want it to be unrealistic, like "they fell in love after three days. It was meant to be."**

**Okay, I'm totally not using reverse psychology or anything, but I want you to NOT review. Whatever you do, don't review.**

**(I'm kidding, by the way. XD)**

**(I wasn't kidding about that last part. Go review. Please?)~**


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